U.S. patent number 6,970,144 [Application Number 10/003,372] was granted by the patent office on 2005-11-29 for kiosk for 3d display.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Vrex, Inc.. Invention is credited to Michael Simpson, David C. Swift.
United States Patent |
6,970,144 |
Swift , et al. |
November 29, 2005 |
Kiosk for 3D display
Abstract
The invention is an improved kiosk for a 3D display. A clear
plastic or transparent band surrounds a .mu.Pol based 3D stereo
flat panel LCD display system. The radius of the band is designed
to provide the optimum viewing distance from all angles.
Inventors: |
Swift; David C. (Cortlandt
Manor, NY), Simpson; Michael (Ridgewood, NJ) |
Assignee: |
Vrex, Inc. (Elmsford,
NY)
|
Family
ID: |
35405207 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/003,372 |
Filed: |
November 15, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/1.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02B
30/25 (20200101); H04N 13/332 (20180501) |
Current International
Class: |
G09G 005/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;359/374,369 ;463/46,32
;250/211 ;345/1.1,1.2,1.3,2.12,4,905 ;348/58 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Nguyen; Chanh
Assistant Examiner: Good-Johnson; Motilewa
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brill; Gerow D. Crispino; Ralph
J.
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION
The present application is a non-provisional application of our
Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/249,354 dated Nov. 16, 2000
entitled "An Improved Kiosk for 3D Display." This Provisional
Application is hereby incorporated by reference.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A kiosk for 3D display comprising: a micro polarizer based 3D
display system; a band surrounding at least a portion of said
display system; one or more viewing polarized filters attached to
or integral with said band; and an ergonomic base unit supporting
said display system and said band wherein multiple combinations of
display systems with said bands to form a complete or partial ring
of said 3D displays.
2. The kiosk of claim 1 wherein said display comprises a CRT
display.
3. The kiosk of claim 1 wherein said display comprises an LCD
display.
4. The kiosk of claim 1 wherein said display comprises a projection
screen upon which a 3D image is projected.
5. The kiosk of claim 4 wherein said projected image is part of a
front projection system.
6. The kiosk of claim 4 wherein said display is part of a fear
projection system.
7. The kiosk of claim 1 further comprising sensors on or near said
transparent band for sensing the presence of a viewer.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an improved kiosk for 3D display systems.
Specifically, the improvement makes it possible to have a compact
and ergonomic kiosk viewing system for multiple viewers.
Previous display systems use micro polarizing filters (.mu.Pol.TM.)
for 3D display systems. The following patents describe the use of
micro polarizing filters in 3D display systems and are incorporated
by reference.
An invention by Sadeg M. Faris in U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,285 issued on
Jul. 5, 1994 entitled "Methods of Manufacturing Micropolarizers"
teaches the manufacturing of micropolarizers used in the improved
kiosk system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,520 issued on Mar. 17, 1992 to
Sadeg M. Faris teaches a method for producing high efficiency
polarizing filters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,982 issued on Jun. 22, 1993
to Sadeg Faris discloses a polarizing wavelength separator. U.S.
Pat. No. 5,691,789 issued on Nov. 25, 1997 to Sadeg M. Faris
teaches a single layer reflective super broadband circular
polarizer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,753 issued on Mar. 7, 2000 to Faris
et al teaches the use of circular polarizing material have super
broadband reflection and transmission characteristics. U.S. Pat.
No. 6,111,598 issued on Aug. 29, 2000 to Sadeg Faris teaches a
system and method for displaying spectrally multiplexed images of
three dimensional imagery for use in flicker free stereoscopic
viewing.
Using a .mu.Pol filter on an LCD for a kiosk display is difficult
because special viewing glasses are required. CRT and shutter
glasses 3D systems have the same problem. One solution is to hang
the glasses on a wire or attach them to a rod in front of the
display. This solution only allows one viewer to see the display.
Since a .mu.Pol based 3D stereo flat-panel display has a very large
viewing zone in the horizontal dimension, it is possible to have
many viewers on the same horizontal plane viewing a 3D image. This
invention provides a compact and ergonomic kiosk viewing system for
multiple viewers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The FIGURE is a perspective view of an improved kiosk as described
in the application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an improved kiosk for a 3D display. A clear
plastic or transparent band surrounds a .mu.Pol based 3D stereo
flat panel LCD display system. The radius of the band is designed
to provide the optimum viewing distance from all angles.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an improved kiosk 100 for a 3D display. A clear
plastic or transparent band 102 surrounds a .mu.Pol based 3D stereo
flat panel LCD display system 104. The radius of the band is
designed to provide the optimum viewing distance from all
angles.
Attached to this band are one or more 3D viewing polarized filters
106 at periodic intervals. It is possible to support at least 5
viewers per display. A viewer simply puts his/her head up to the
band and looks through the polarizing filters to see the 3D stereo
images on the display. For cathode ray tube (crt) shutter based
systems, it is possible to embed shuttering filters into the band
for time sequential displays. The entire system is integrated into
an ergonomic base unit that supports the 3D display and the band
(as illustrated in the FIGURE). The base 108 is fashioned in such a
way as to all mutiple units to be attached to form a complete or
partial ring of 3D displays (as illustrated in the attached
rendering). The 3D display may be include, but is not limited to, a
CRT display, an LCD display or a projection screen upon which a 3D
image is projected. The projection system may be a front projection
system or a rear projection system.
Sensors (not shown) can be placed in the ring or near the display
to sense the presence of a viewer and change from the 2D monoscopic
display to a true 3D stereo display. This feature will allow a
monoscopic image to be used as an attraction sequence and allow the
3D stereo images to be displayed when a user is actually looking at
the display. This is important because 3D stereo images are nearly
impossible to view and understand when they are not being viewing
with the glasses.
Important factors to be considered with the improved kiosk system
include: The kiosk supports multiple viewers without the need to
manage glasses or have ugly strings/wires/rods supporting the
glasses. Additionally the improved kiosk provides viewing at the
optimum distance for the best 3D effect.
There is an improved ergonomic look of the improved kiosk that
includes a viewer sensor that allows monoscopic attraction images
to be displayed when viewers are not looking though the ring.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the present
invention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments,
which are presented for purpose of illustration rather than
limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims
that follow.
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